Vacation Education Infatuation
by Peggi J. Crawford
Summary: Severus is put in charge of preparing a new student for the upcoming year at Hogwarts. There is a lot Dumbledore is keeping from them both, but with clashing personalities, important decisions having to be made, and plenty of secrets nothing will go smoothly. Severus does, however, find comfort in the girl he both has feelings for and can't stand. Loads of genres, too!
1. Severus' Charge

Peggi: This sorta started off as a roleplay between me and this total stranger on Omegle...

Kit: Hai dere! I'm the random stranger! After we got to just about halfway through with the next chapter we realized how awesome it turned out and how great we work together so...this happened!

Peggi: Whee! More friends for Peggi! So, it started off with Kit as Sev and me as Sephy, but then we got so good at it that we took control of both and sorta just went with it.

Kit: It's kinda a trilogy type fic, this will take place soley during 2nd and 3rd year for the Golden Trio over summer break. We initially wanted it to be this action-filled cutesy romance but it turned out to be more of a different-side-of-Snape friendshippy, romantic character development story.

Peggi: Yup. Basically. We're still doing some editing and final touches but we like how it has come so far! If you like it, please review it so we'll know and can then entertain you with future chapters!

Disclaimer: Peggi and Kit do not own Harry Potter, omegle, or even the orange mentioned in this chapter. They own the character of Sephy, some of Sephy's clothing, and this really awful RP-turned-fanfiction. Contains tons of genres including: Friendship, Hurt/Comfort, Romance, Angst, and Fantasy as well as more! Thank you, that is all.

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It was not unusual that Severus Snape would spend almost the entirety of his summer vacation locked away, some sort of book in hand. He would often choose to remain in the castle when he could, rather than at his childhood home at Spinner's End, simply because of the collection of bad memories he had there. It _was_, however, unusual for him to hear knocking at the door of his Hogwarts Hideaway in the dungeons.

"Yes, what is it?" he asked, quite obviously irritated as he swung the door open to find out who the maker of the offending noise was.

"Severus," it was Dumbledore. Severus could sense that this couldn't _possibly_ be good.

"Headmaster? Come in," he invited, motioning him to enter but not really wanting the company.

"Actually, Severus, I was hoping that you would accompany me to the Great Hall. There is someone I would like for you to meet."

The potions professor exhaled sharply, clearly not really wanting to meet anyone new, or see anyone he already knew, for that matter. Nonetheless, he followed.

"Care to share what this is about?" not that he didn't suspect that Dumbledore wouldn't tell him anyway.

"Well, Severus, this person I am taking you to meet is going to be a guest of the castle this summer."

"And I don't suppose you're only taking me to meet this mysterious person simply because you assume we are going to get on together, become best friends and share teaching experiences and do each other's hair or trade chocolate frog cards, now are you?" he figured not, but couldn't resist throwing it at his close friend anyway.

"She isn't a teacher, Professor, she is a student. Or she will be. While I know you cherish these few months without students, and I am sure have quite the schedule to keep," this was clearly a jab back at Severus' previous remark "I would certainly hope that you could find the time to train a young witch so that she may be ready to begin classes with the other third year students."

The darkly-dressed man groaned inside, using every swear word he could think of inside of his head. Luckily, he was very good at keeping his emotions from others, and simply scoffed a bit at the thought of having to give up his summer from teaching, to teach.

"And, given that none of the other professors have left the grounds yet for the summer, Albus, why is it that you are assigning _me_ to this task?"

"Because quite honestly, Severus, I have a feeling that she is going to need a - how should I put this, strong hand to guide her through her lessons."

"Just as relentlessly obnoxious as the other soon-to-be third years, I should assume?" Severus rolled his eyes at the thought of teaching someone the same age as Potter and his band of...well, he'd used up all of his swear words so he couldn't quite think of a new one that was fitting, which he hadn't already used in the past 5 minutes.

"Don't be mistaken, Severus. She isn't the same age as the other third years, she is about to become 17, which is _reasonably_ older than the classmates she will be paired with. Simply put, she hasn't had any magical training thus far, and until quite recently, was unaware that schools like Hogwarts even existed. This is why I am asking for you to help prepare her for the upcoming year. She should, by the end of the summer, be able to hold her own with her classmates, if not excel further."

"How can she be a witch and not pick up on any signs of it until now?" Severus wasn't sure if he really believed any of this.

"She lived a very secluded life until this point, hardly any friends, no social life to speak of, home-schooled, a bit of a bookworm, and-"

"Boring?" Severus finished for him.

"Actually, I was _going_ to say, not much unlike yourself. Especially at that age."

"Well then, obviously there's something wrong with her."

Dumbledore just gave one of his stereotypical chuckles as he pulled open the doors to the Great Hall. Severus prepared himself. He pictured her to have frizzy hair like Hermione's, thick glasses, too thin and lanky for her height with bony elbows and knees, sunken in black eyes and a pasty complexion. Some boring looking square, making her lack of friends_ clear_ to him just upon sight. When he saw her sitting on the table closest to them, feet planted on the bench, taking in her last slice of an orange, he was almost _confused_.

"Severus, I would like for you to meet Sephy. Sephy, this is Professor Snape. He will be helping you with your lessons this summer. I suppose you two should get introductions in order, and then you may either begin on your lessons or you may show her about the castle first if you'd prefer."

Before Severus could protest, Dumbledore swooped out just as quickly as they'd arrived, leaving the two of them to their silence.

Severus turned to the girl in question, gave her a quick once over, and began forming his opinion of her right away. Black silky hair just below her shoulders with clearly un-natural streaks of purple and red in it, thin but still with curves so clearly not friendless because she was ugly, pale but not really due to lack of sunlight, bright green eyes. Nothing outwardly wrong with her. Strangely dressed even if she were trying to pass for a Muggle, wearing a red and black plaid skirt and a black tank top and boots that came up to her knees. He also noticed the arm-warmers right away, as it was summer and it took a _certain_ type of crazy to wear such things during these months. He assumed that maybe, given that she didn't know she was a witch, or maybe about the wizarding world at _all_ could account for her strange attire, and that maybe she simply dressed this way assuming that this was just how witches dressed. He just couldn't picture any type of home-schooled bookworm dressing like this _ever_, for _any_ reason. Then he went back to wondering why she hadn't any friends, as she quite honestly wasn't bad looking at all, aside from that smirk on her face. That, he could've done without.

"Find something amusing?" not that he really cared.

"No," she giggled "well, not really. It's just...your name. 'Severus'. Is that a common name here in the wizard world?"

If he had any emotion on his face, which he didn't, it would've left him at that point. He felt like smacking the laughter right off of her, "it's the _Wizarding_ world, not the Wizard world! And you have a problem with my name?" he hissed at her, voice clearly full of all the venom he could muster.

The smile left her face immediately and Severus was quite pleased with his work in intimidating his newest student, at least until she spoke.

"No, your name's just fine. It's just unusual. I like it, actually."

Instantly instilling fear almost _always_ worked with students. Damn, he would have to try harder. Maybe he could manage to scare her off early on into the summer, and she would be assigned to some other poor professor.

"Sephy, that's an odd name itself. Don't you have a last name I can call you by? Something to match that odd sense of fashion you have? And where are you from? That's no European accent."

"I'm from America, and no, my last name isn't half as crazy as the clothes I wear. It's Storms. Persephone Storms, but everyone calls me 'Sephy'. It's just way easier."

She hadn't skipped a beat, though any excitement from her voice had completely drained at this point, so mission partially accomplished, "I suppose we should begin on some sort of lesson."

"Shouldn't I maybe get a look around the castle? I don't actually know where anything is just yet," she suggested.

"You can feel free to walk around all you'd like when you're done with your lesson. That way I can get you out of my hair faster and I won't be bothered with showing you every fascinating room."

She just gave a quick, "yes Professor" and that was the end of that. She followed him out of the Great Hall and what, to her, seemed like never-ending corridors to what was clearly a dungeon. There were several rooms and what appeared to be some sort of empty den. Severus led her into one of the rooms, which was set up as a classroom.

"This is the Potions classroom. Sit down. Learn something," he said, placing a beginners level book in front of her and beginning to walk out, "I'll be across the hall and to the right if you need anything. If you don't, then don't pester me."

Sephy sat there, almost stunned. She hadn't particularly wanted to spend her summer inside of a mostly empty castle, being bossed around by a clearly half-insane man who had little desire to be around her, in a room filled with - ooo shiny vials filled with liquids!

Severus huffed as he slammed the door to his room shut, plopping back down on his favorite chair, his good book in hand hoping he could find his place again. He felt a slight twinge of guilt about leaving her like that, but he had no desire whatsoever to teach right now. Besides, if she was this bookworm Albus made her out to be, she should have no problem reading a book. That should keep her entertained for at least the remainder of the day, and the following day he would find something on Charms. Or maybe something more entertaining, like Magical Creatures. He found his place in the book, and began to read. He glanced up at the clock and saw that it was just past eleven, he would remember to go check on her again at three to give her some time to walk around the castle on her own before dinner.

_It was the first year Harry would begin school at Hogwarts and Severus Snape for one, was dreading it. From the moment he sat down at the Gryffindor table, he could see them. Both James and Lily. He looked like the younger version of James, slight differences but enough in common that one might mistake the two of them in a casual passing-by. Those eyes though, they were all Lily. They made eye contact, only briefly, before Harry began getting to know the rest of the Gryffindors. The beginning of their first class together had gone by smoothly enough, but just as Severus was exiting the classroom, he ran into Harry and Ron, who had buddied up right away, and Hermione who seemed to join in, wanted or not._

_"Can't you watch where you're going Snivellus?" Harry asked - but it wasn't his voice, it was James'._

_"Why you-" before he could begin the name calling, Remus, Sirius and Peter appeared behind the trio._

_"What's the matter?" Hermione asked, a devilish grin on her face._

_Suddenly, Severus wasn't feeling as confident as he had been moments before. The group loomed over him. The same nervous, fluttery feeling in his stomach that he had experienced for so many years while attending Hogwarts as a student present. He reached for his wand, but couldn't find it._

_"Looking for something?" Sirius asked tauntingly._

_Severus looked up to see his wand in Sirius' hand, "well then, come and get it if you want it!"_

_Severus dove for his wand but Sirius tossed it to Harry, who then tossed it to Remus as he lunged in Harry's general direction._

_James laughed, "can't keep up with us Snivellus?" he asked after catching the wand himself._

_As Severus dove for the wand this time, James balled up a fist, and just as it almost made contact with his face -_

THUNK.

Severus' eyes shot open and he realized he'd been dreaming. It wasn't unusual a dream for him, and he recovered from it fairly quickly, or at least as quickly as you can from such a dream. He looked around to see where the noise had come from. He had fallen asleep while reading and dropped his book. He stretched and thought about just going to bed, seeing that it was now six o'clock, when suddenly he remembered he had left his charge in the Potions classroom for almost 7 full hours!

Without fully waking up first he rushed over to the potions room, expecting the girl to be sitting there, an annoyed look on her face, but that wasn't what he saw at all. In fact, there was no girl there at all! Had it just been a dream, all of it? The girl, the task he'd been given to teach her over the summer? No, it couldn't have been. The book he left her with was sitting right on the desk he'd left her at, and underneath was a piece of parchment. He picked it up and read it.

'Dear Professor Snape,'

Dear. He scoffed at the first line, the rest must be rich.

'I am sorry to be a burden on you over the summer. I'm sure you'd much rather be doing other things. I would be too. Clearly, you want nothing to do with me, as you left me with a book like this one, which clearly wasn't meant to do more than keep me amused. I came here to be challenged, and you don't see fit to do that for me, so I'll just tell the Headmaster that you're asking me to independently study and then just observing my work from time to time. That way you won't have to, what did you call it, pester you. OR be 'in your hair'. Hope that works for you.'

"What the bloody hell kind of a letter was that?" Severus huffed, even more irritated now. It was one thing for him to tell a student to leave him alone, but for her to outright disobey something he asked of her (even if he had forgotten about her), and come up with her own plan for him to be able to avoid her, well that was just crossing lines.

He was getting ready to simply go back to his quarters and call it a night when he noticed something on his desk. It wasn't something that hadn't been there before, nor was it something missing, it was that everything on his desk was so..._organized. _While he was a fairly organized man anyway, he did have a habit of letting some things get out of order. Now, the notes that he'd been taking which he had just haphazardly placed randomly on the desk were in order from start to finish. He had been working on putting some finishing touches to a revision of a potion and clearly the pages had been read and then placed in their proper order. They were then neatly stacked next to the books that were there, which were also now stacked and in order by the dates they were written in. He took a quick glance around the room to see if anything else had been touched. He checked the cabinet to see if any of the stores of ingredients had been tampered with, and they were all facing label to the front, lined up neatly. He couldn't help but be slightly impressed by this, even if it wasn't enough to get a verbal approval from him at any point.

This did lead to one other small question, however. What _else_ had she been 'organizing', and _where_? Severus made his way to the Great Hall to see if his new student was eating dinner. The room was completely empty. He knew that Minerva would still be putting the finishing touches to organizing her own classroom before closing it up for the summer and heading off to her home for vacation, and he hoped to be able to catch her before she left. She might've seen a student wandering around the castle and taken note of it, as there weren't _supposed_ to be any students in the castle. At least not until this intrusion.

Just as suspected, Minerva was cleaning her chalkboard with magic and sitting at her desk, organizing some documents which she would use at the beginning of the next year's classes.

"Minerva?" he announced his presence.

"Ah, yes Severus? How can I help you?" she looked up from what she was doing.

"You wouldn't happen to have seen an obnoxious, giggly-"

"Sephy?" she asked, clearly knowing that was where his question was leading.

"Yes. One of those," there was a clear hint of aggravation in his voice - well, more than a hint, really.

"I did, she spent some time in here with me, hence why I'm still here so late. It's close to six thirty!"

"My apologies Professor, I didn't think she was going to wander around the castle and annoy the other professors. I thought that was reserved for me."

Minerva laughed at his statement, "not at all, Severus. She was actually quite pleasant. She asked if she could help me with anything, and after I ascertained why she was here, we both became quite chatty. I showed her a bit about Transfiguration and she managed to turn one of the chairs into a glass vase. It was quite impressive, though she did break it. Still, though, impressive for her first try. She didn't tell me exactly who was supposed to be watching over her, but I figured it must've been you from what she was telling me."

He smirked, wondering what horrible names she'd called him on her first day, "was it something about a greasy old git? Or pasty dungeon bat is always popular among new students."

Minerva raised an eyebrow at him, "actually no, she just told me she'd been left alone in a room for over an hour. The words she used to describe you were, as I recall, 'the poor Professor whose summer was ruined getting stuck with me'. Had she not mentioned being left alone, I don't think I'd have placed you as the one in charge of her"

"I suppose I should go find her and she who else she's bothered," he rolled his eyes, turning to leave. He wouldn't admit it, but he was impressed for a second time. If ever he deserved insults, this would be the time.

He walked down several corridors, before realizing she could be literally anywhere at this point, and decided to just let her find her way back to the dungeons. Eventually she would get tired and he would get a knock at his door. He was just about to open his door when he saw flickering lights coming from the large room at the end of the hall.

Sephy sat there on the floor of what she assumed to be some sort of strange dungeon den. Or maybe the torture room. Or maybe it was some super secret room used for all kinds of kinky sex. Whatever it was, she found it to be the perfect place to practice some of the new spells she'd learned. She heard footsteps, and looked towards the doorway. She'd lit all of the torches along the walls, using magic which she was quite proud of by the way, so there was plenty of light in the room and at the doorway. She saw Severus standing there, an angry look on his face, and then more of concern when he saw what she was holding.

"What are you doing you stupid girl? Where did you find Mrs. Norris, and why are you holding onto her?" he rushed up to the pair.

"Hey! I'm not stupid, thanks, and a really nice gentleman named Filch gave her to me!" she pulled the cat out of his reach.

"I am quite certain that he did _not_!" in his head, he added 'and I am quite certain he is _not_ a nice gentleman', as well.

"Well, no he didn't _give her_ give her, he _lent_ her to me. To play with. She likes me. Well, she actually likes the strings that attach to my arm warmers, but hey, I'll take what I can get. I love cats! She was sitting outside of the girls bathroom and he was scrubbing some sort of magical graffiti stuff off the walls, and she came up to me. Go ask him! He's taking something to a Mr. Hagrid right now if you don't believe me!"

"Listen to me, you do not wander about the castle without being supervised and moving things around! There are parts of the castle which aren't completely safe for students, and there are parts of the grounds forbidden as well! I left you in a classroom-"

"With a childish book that took me no time at all to read through, nothing else to do, and didn't want me to bother you! So I didn't!"

"Then you should've sat there quietly until I came back for you!" he realized that given his falling asleep and how quickly she'd actually finished the book, this wasn't a reasonable thing to say, but he needed to show her who was in control.

"You're a teacher! You are supposed to_ teach_. Not my dad who barks orders at me like that! Gah! And thank_ God_ you aren't my dad, you're terrible at giving me orders. I'd be running amok if this was how my dad dealt with me. Come on, Mrs. Norris, lets go find Mr. Filch," she put the cat down who began walking away to find her master.

Severus felt like throttling the girl for speaking to him that way, "how _dare_ you! I am your superior! You will do _what_ I tell you _when_ I tell you, do you understand! And if I had a daughter she certainly wouldn't behave the way you do! I couldn't live with myself if I knew my child was behaving this out of line!"

"Yeah?" she almost yelled back at him, "well guess my real dad couldn't either! Guess that's why he killed himself! Because of me, right?!" she began to storm off.

Severus, for probably one of the few times in his life, felt a pang of guilt. He grabbed her by the shoulder and spun her around, a sympathetic look on his face.

"Sephy, you are very out of line and you need to start obeying me, but what I said to you was out of line as well. I had no idea your father killed himself."

"Oh," Sephy shrugged "he didn't. Actually he just ran off on my mom and I. I just wanted to see if you do anything other than yell and scowl."

She hadn't said it in a cruel manner, nor a rude one, but the simple fact of the situation brought back that anger from seconds before.

"What is _wrong_ with you?!" he yelled in her face.

"No, see, I really like the _other_ look much better. The one where you _don't_ look like you want to kill me or something. You look so sweet when you aren't angry, it's really cute. And then you get all angry again and it's ruined."

Between realizing there was probably no hope anymore in going any further, Severus released her from his grip and let her walk off. He wasn't even sure what he would say at that point. She was more aggravating than the Golden Trio combined, more insufferable, more obnoxious, more...did she call him cute? Now he realized why she didn't have any friends. Who in their right bloody mind could put up with her for more than a few minutes at a time?

Severus closed the door to his room behind him, heading straight to bed. He had had enough of this day and just wanted it to be over.

After Mrs. Norris was returned to her rightful owner, Sephy changed into her bedclothes and walked into her chambers. Dumbledore had decided it would be better than to stay in a dorm, and she even had a small window to look out at the moon. She sat by the window and looked out at the moon. And cried.

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Peggi: BOOYA. Cliffhangers. Kinda.

Severus: You know, your 'Sephy' character sounds an awful lot like you. Maybe that's why I already can't stand her.

Kit: Hey! Be nice. Besides, if you hate her now, just you wait, mister!

Peggi: Psh, yeah. My character is pretty badass.

Kit: Yeah...and now I know from having talked to you on facebook, this is pretty much just you. In real life. Except you use far more emoticons. And can't eat oranges.

Peggi: Yup! Now, readers, to the review button! Go! Accio reviews!


	2. Tempers like the Dragons we Study

Kit: Hey guys, welcome to chapter two! So, some of the things in this story might be inconsistent with the facts from the books/movies. Since this was originally just for us to enjoy, of course in order to accomplish what we wanted in the story, we changed some facts. We'll do our best to explain them as things progress.

Peggi: Kit also tried to keep Sev as close to in-character as she could while allowing for the obvious friendshippy/potential-romance factor.

Kit: We got reviews...so we'll give our thank-yous at the end of this chapter!

Disclaimer: Kit and Peggi don't own Harry Potter or anything related to JK's original works.

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The next morning, Severus woke around 7:30, but didn't bother to get out of bed until nearly nine. After the previous evening, he was far too exhausted mentally to want to bother with the intruder and had to force himself to get up at all. He went through his typical routine, a bit more slowly than usual, and once he was finally showered and dressed he headed into the Great Hall. He figured if the obnoxious girl wasn't there, he would check in Dumbledore's office to ask which room he'd given her to stay in. He hoped for a peaceful breakfast alone, but when he arrived, he saw that it just wasn't going to happen.

"Hi there!" Sephy was far too enthusiastic for this time of morning.

Severus simply nodded in her general direction and hoped that greeting would be good enough. He walked past the girl, who was once again seated atop the table and using the bench for a footrest. He made his way to the long tables where the teachers ate during the school-year, and began eating the breakfast that the house elves had prepared.

She didn't say a word, didn't make a single noise, just sat there, quietly eating what appeared to be a bagel with cream cheese, though he didn't really pay attention. Once he was done, he looked up to find Sephy reading a book. He sighed and stood up, walking towards her. She didn't take her eyes off of the book she was reading until he spoke.

"Today, you will be learning about Magical Creatures. There are many different types of creatures to learn about, and still more being discovered. That should hold your interest," he didn't so much care about her being entertained as he did keeping her busy and thus, away from him.

She nodded and followed him as he began to exit the room. Taking one last sip of her pumpkin juice, she closed her book and they made their way to the library. The typical librarian who was there during the school year was not there during the summer, as no one really checked out books during those months. It was extremely quiet, almost looking like something out of some type of horror movie, but it was peaceful in a way.

"I will quickly show you around so that you know where to find everything, and then you will do some studying by yourself again. This time, however, you will be following up your reading with an essay," he instructed.

"Actually, Professor, you can just tell me what you want me to read up on. I was in here for a few hours yesterday."

"Very well then. I want you to find a book in the Dragon Section, and read up on the Peruvian Vipertooth, and you will finish up your reading by writing everything you can on the subject. I want to know everything you can tell me about the species from its description to unique qualities. You will remain here in the library until I come to get you. If you finish before I return you may read another book in that section and _only_ that section. Do you understand?" he made sure to give very clear instruction this time, lest the girl go wandering off again.

Sephy just nodded and he took that as a sign that she was at least paying attention. He turned and left her to her assignment, hoping that this time she would actually follow his instructions. She watched him leave the library, closing the door behind him. She bit her lip and looked around, trying to remember where she had found the Dragon Section the day before. It only took her a few moments to find it, and she made her way there with ease. She scanned over the titles of the books, trying to find one that might have the dragon in question.

"Peruvian Vipertooth," she thought out loud to herself, "viper, so it probably is pretty dangerous, I _know_ I can find something about it in _this_ book," she pulled a book titled Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.

She sat the book down on one of the tables and flipped to the Index, locating one of the last chapters, titled An A-Z of Fantastic Beasts and found the dragon in question. She returned to the bookshelf and did some searching for something else which might contain any information on the subject. After a few moments she found what she was looking for.

"Ahah! This one!" she said proudly, pulling a second book off of the shelf titled XXXXX Creatures.

She sat down and began reading. This time, she wasn't left with a boring beginners guide which would take her no time at all to get through and understand, but something that actually gave her a reason to sit still.

Meanwhile, Severus was making his way to Dumbledore's office. He hoped that he would be there, and that he would be able to speak with him about his thoughts on what he'd been asked to do. He knocked on the door, waiting to see if anyone was in there.

"Yes, come in," he heard in response.

"Headmaster, I was hoping that I could have a word with you."

"Ah, of course Severus, come in! Have a seat. Would you like some tea?" he motioned for the Professor to take a seat next to him on the empty seat.

"No, I'm fine," he sat down next to his comrade and took a deep breath "how should I put this? How about, the girl you put me in charge of is absolutely insane!"

Dumbledore gave a chuckle, "oh? And how so?"

"She doesn't like to follow orders, she wanders around the castle without permission, she invents tragic stories to gain my sympathy just for her own pleasure and I am also pretty sure she's lied to me about how she managed to get hold of Mrs. Norris!" clearly, he was exasperated.

This time, it wasn't just a chuckle, it was an actual laugh. This frustrated Severus even further, "a bit much for you to handle? Well, if you don't think that you can manage her, I suppose I could-"

"Manage? She needs to be fully restrained! And gagged!"

"I understand your frustrations, however, it is very important that she remain at this school and assist Harry Potter in his mission in the upcoming war. You wondered why you were the one I felt to be best at teaching her? It wasn't simply because you have some few things in common."

"Then what? Because quite honestly I can hardly stand her."

"She chose you."

"_Chose_ me, Albus? I'm not sure I quite understand," he was even more confused now. Chose him? Chose him for _what_, exactly?

"During the winter vacation just before Christmas, as you recall, I took a short leave of absence. I left so that I would be able to meet with Sephy. I informed her that she is a witch, and explained that because she's been isolated for so long, she may not have recognized any of the signs. Had she done so, she would've been on our radar much sooner."

Severus listened to him closely, taking it all in as he gave his explanation, "I gave her some brief information, explained why it was so important she accompany me to Hogwarts this summer, and the day I brought her to the school, I gave her a quick look into the Pensieve. She had only a few brief glances at some of the professors, and I allowed her to choose who she would spend the summer learning under, as I needed her complete focus to be on her work. I thought that if she had the choice, she would be more willing to stay, as she had no real intentions of doing so. Giving her a choice made her feel like she had some power over the situation. Something I am _sure_ you can understand."

"I'm flattered," obvious sarcasm "but if she were searching for power over her situation and someone to make this experience fun, shouldn't she have chosen someone who _isn't_ me?"

"If you care to know why she made her selection, Severus, perhaps you should actually ask her. She could best explain her decision making," this was clearly just some ploy to get him to actually spend more than a few moments with her.

"It isn't really important, I was only curious," what he meant was, it wasn't important enough to subject himself to her.

"Are you sure I can't get you some tea?" there was an expression on his face that was slightly amused by the avoidance.

In the library, Sephy was hard at work writing her essay. She was putting some finishing touches to it when someone walked up to her. No, not walked, _floated_ up to her. She gasped in surprise, dropping the book she had sitting on her lap and grabbed for her wand.

The ghost, which she could now clearly recognize as such, just laughed a bit at her, "I don't mean you any harm young lady!" he smiled at her and nodded.

She lowered her wand, which she only had basic knowledge on how to use anyway and it was more a false threat in the first place. Especially towards a ghost. "So, you aren't here to, like, dismember me or posses me or something?"

He just let out a laugh, very obviously amused, "certainly not m'dear. I am one of the many ghosts you will find here at Hogwarts! I am Professor Cuthbert Binns! I teach History of Magic here at the school!"

She released her breath, which she had been nervously holding, "sorry, I've just never actually _met_ a ghost before. So, there are more of you? Ghosts, I mean? Oh, sorry I'm so rude. I'm Sephy, by the way. Sephy Storms. I'm studying here for the summer, starting up next year! I'll be in the third year of school, even if I'm kinda older than everyone. I just never actually went to school for this sort of thing so I guess they wanted to start me off easy or something!"

"Sephy, what a lovely name. You will be in my class, then! I look forward to having you! Fascinating subject, History of Magic!"

"I'm sure it is! Right now Professor Snape has me writing an essay on the Peruvian Vipertooth, I think mostly so he can avoid me."

"Not surprising, not at all. He certainly does enjoy his space, not the friendliest fellow-"

"Or easy to get along with," Sephy pointed out.

"Yes, that too, but you can learn a great deal from him."

"That's why I wanted him to teach me. I figure, maybe once I prove I'm not wasting his time he'll start _really_ teaching me. Not giving me these lessons just to pass the time. Headmaster Dumbledore told me when I picked him that I might find someone else to be a little more lax with me, but I want to learn. I don't want to be given an easy time. If I did, I'd have just asked to join the Salem Witches' Institute or something! I did some reading on Wizard-" she remembered Professor Snape correcting her the day before on how it was Wizarding World not Wizard World "_ing_ schools and I hear that one is really lenient on its students!"

Professor Binns seemed to understand her joke about the other school and gave a small laugh, "sounds like you've done some reading! That will do you well in _my_ class! I am sure I will see you around the school, but I should let you get back to your assignment! We don't want that Professor Snape angry with us both, now do we?"

"No sir!" she smiled at him, picking her book up off of the floor and finding the page she had been on.

In the Potions classroom, Severus was working on an elixir, the Elixir to Induce Euphoria, which he thought he might need quite soon if things continued the way they had yesterday. In any case, it was a way to pass the time and let his mind wander a bit from the distractions around him. He always felt quite content in front of a cauldron, despite his desperate want to teach the Defense Against the Dark Arts class.

He had just started and was stirring, waiting for the color to change to blue. As if things couldn't get any worse for him, having to look at the combination of his childhood bully and childhood love every day during the school year, teaching a class he had no want to teach, everything he'd ever wanted for his life at some point totally destroyed! Now here he was, frustrated and creating potions instead of lounging about, reading all of the books he'd bought for himself for this summer. All because some annoying little girl had chosen him for whatever reason, to put up with her all summer and catch her up on TWO YEARS of magical learning! Dumbledore seemed to find it amusing that he was irritated, and he shouldn't have even been a teacher at the school in the first place! With his abilities and knowledge he could've done something great with his life! Lily was supposed to be his! If the stubborn girl had just chosen him! Yes, he'd said some regrettable things but that was no reason to-

"Damn it!"

He had managed to forget what he was doing and probably would've over-stirred or burned the elixir had he not looked down in time. He turned down the heat and allowed it to simmer.

In the library, Sephy was hard at work, reading as much about dragons as she possibly could. She was reading about the Norwegian Ridgeback, Discovering that just like the Vipertooth, it too has venomous fangs. This led her research to something else; antivenins. While she didn't find much about it in the section she was asked to stay in, she could easily use the excuse that it was part of her research on dragons and thought it should be ok. She just wouldn't mention anything she read that didn't relate to dragons.

After what seemed like an entire day's worth of reading, she heard the door to the library open. She looked up from her reading to see her Professor walking up to her, that same unhappy expression she thought she might as well get used to, on his face.

"Have you completed your assignment yet?" he asked, crossing his arms, looking down at the book she had in her hand. _Not_ a book from the Dragon Section.

"Yes," she realized she had to do her explaining about her wandering to other sections "and I even went above and beyond. I was doing some reading on two species of dragons discovered up to date, and decided to do some research on the antivenins to their bites, and add it into my essay, since the books in this section didn't really have as much information. I know you said stay in _this_ section, but I figured that if I was going to have _all_ the information in my essay, I should get it wherever I can."

"Then why, might I ask, is your page turned to the section about Acromantulas?"

Thinking fast, she looked down at the page and then back up at the man in front of her, "well, I wasn't really sure if there might be something else in the book about some type of dragon not mentioned in the other books, since not all of the information on them was in there, so I was just flipping through each section to see what they were exactly, and happened to be on this page. Just trying to be thorough is all," she added with a smile.

While she wasn't sure he actually believed her, the answer seemed to be good enough to not push on with the matter, "you may go eat lunch now if you're hungry."

He began to walk away when she stopped him, "wait!"

He stopped and without turning to look at her, replied. "Yes?"

"Look, I totally get that you don't like me, and I know you're really bummed about having to teach during your summer vacation and all, but I don't understand why you're doing this. Why not just leave me in the library to come and go as I please, read what I want and learn practical skills from the books without being told how to do it? I mean, if you were going over everything and explaining it and teaching me like in a normal setting that's one thing but-"

"Listen to me," he turned to face her, so much venom in his voice she almost wondered if there was a such thing as a Snape antivenin, "if you have a problem with the way I am teaching you, you may feel _free_ to tell Dumbledore that you would like someone else to bother in my place. As it is, for whatever reason, you chose to be taught by me. You will do _as_ I instruct, the _way_ I instruct it. I'm not here to be your friend, nor am I here to spend my precious summer months at the front of a classroom babying you. You have an entire two years worth of lessons to get through in just three months, and if you don't like my methods, you shouldn't have chosen to learn by me!"

He was giving her a menacing look that probably would've caused any other student to back down, but terrified at this point or not, she wasn't about to do it. "You want to know _why_ I chose you? Because when the Headmaster gave me glimpses of each teacher here everyone else looked so kind, really friendly, super willing to help students to learn. Then there was you, that constant stick up your ass demeanor and a constant look of disgust with everyone and everything. I knew you wouldn't be my _friend_ or _baby_ me, I wanted someone with _experience_ who _wouldn't_ baby me. I wanted someone to be _tough_ on me, because I _know_ I only have these three months to take in years of learning. But if you were to actually take two seconds and see what I can do, I'm not lazy and I'm certainly above being given short childrens' books on potions."

"Are you quite finished?" if his look of anger could've possibly gotten any harsher, it did at this point.

"No!" her mind kept telling her to shut up, say sorry, and just go eat her lunch. "I've seen you working your fancy little potions, and I've seen you in that little duel with that other professor who looked like he was full of himself. You're good, but clearly that's gone to your head because you think you're _too_ good. Too good to teach me and too good to take the time to get to know me. I can be a handful but I can almost guarantee that I'm nowhere near as unpleasant to be around as you. If you want to be rid of me so badly then fine. That's just fine. I'll go tell Headmaster Dumbledore I'd do better living in the non Wizard W..._WIZARDING_ WORLD and studying than I would be here with you ignoring me and forgetting about me! _Now_, I am quite finished!"

With that, she stormed off. She had no idea where she was going, but she needed to find a place to cool off. She hadn't actually been angry with him at first, but pretending to be angry had actually gotten her pretty worked up. She had no intentions of tattling on him, possibly getting him into trouble. She mostly just hoped it would scare him a bit, thinking he'd get some sort of lecture about it, and give her some respect. In fact, she fully understood why he was treating her this way. Clearly, he didn't have a lot of friends. That much could be noticed by his general attitude. She knew what that was like. For the most part, she avoided friends because she'd always felt more comfort from books and animals than from people.

She also realized that he had an antisocial type of personality, which meant that he likely looked forward to those months between school-years more than almost anything, just to have some time to get away from everyone. Having to spend each day with someone he neither liked nor had chosen to be around probably was infuriating to him, and yet because she _had_ chosen to learn by him, she had forced him to have no choice. What she hoped he'd find out, was that it wouldn't take a lot of guidance from him for her to learn what she needed. She was studious by nature, an extremely quick learner, and in her homeschooling her best subject had been Chemistry, which she found was quite similar to Potions. You have to properly mix amounts and specific ingredients in order to obtain the desired effect. A slight slip of hand and you could blow yourself up. She thought that if he'd give her some time, she could be very good at this subject. Also, she'd chosen to learn by him specifically because he was very much into the Dark Arts from what she'd learned from Dumbledore. This seemed like a fascinating subject to her.

Of course, she had other subjects she was interested in, but not so much as the other two. After a while of walking she came across a covered bridge and decided to stay there for a little while. She peered over the ledge and saw that it was a long way down, so she decided to stand there rather than sit on the railing like she'd initially planned.

Back inside the school, Severus was too angry to eat lunch just yet, and mildly concerned with what would happen now that the nuisance was going to speak with the Headmaster. He knew that he wouldn't be fired, but it was possible his already far too low for his tastes salary could be cut, he could lose certain privileges, and of course he didn't want to disappoint him. On the other hand, he had spoken to him that very day about his frustrations, so it was possible he would be understanding about it. Another bright note was that if Sephy's running to the Headmaster backfired on them both and she still had to continue to be taught by him, he could give her what she wanted. She could spend every evening with him for a month in detention. Organizing his personal stores, scrubbing every cauldron in the classrooms until they looked brand new, scrubbing the floors, oh he would keep her _very_ busy!

Feeling content with himself, he decided to grab a bite to eat. As he was on his way to the Great Hall he happened to pass by Mr. Filch and Mrs. Norris. He was talking to his cat, complaining about the condition of her fur, and Severus, concerned with what the brat might've done to her, decided to ask him if his cat was alright. That, and if she'd done any harm to her, he would have another complaint to take to Dumbledore.

"Argus, everything alright with Mrs. Norris?"

"Ah, Severus. Her fur, all matted and messed up. Where's that girl of yours, I'm going to have a word with her, I will!"

"Not sure she'll be at this school for much longer, I'm sure if you speak with Albus he will make sure she is duly punished."

"Punished? What are you going on about, then? Want 'er to give my cat another good brushin'! Took 'er last night for a bit then she came to me silky smooth! 'aven't seen fur that smooth in years!"

"If I see her I'll let her know you were asking for her," he replied icily. He practically stormed off, appetite all but gone again at this point.

* * *

Kit and Peggi: And that was chapter 2!

Severus: I really hope no one else reviews so you can just stop posting this nonsense.

Kit: NEVER! Even if I have to bribe Peggi again, there _will_ be a chapter 3! You mark my words!

Peggi: Soooo. Do you guys like it so far?

Severus: No.

Kit: She wasn't talking to you! Now review, my little llamas! Or the lovely authoress who allowed us to host this on her page will not be pleased! And will have to take it out on Severus by enforcing a strict and mandatory Sephy-Snape-makeout-scene during the beginning, middle, and end of EVERY chapter!

Severus:...please review guys...

**_THANK-YOU'S:_**

**Guest Review "Good story. I hope you keep writing and finish it!"**

Thank you for your review! Glad you like it so far! We're hoping that we will be able to finish it! So far, we have 6 chapters written, we just have to edit them a bit. Your review is very much appreciated!

**Kit's Review (...yes...Kit reviewed her own story...nice...) "Peggiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii**

**Even though we only got 1 review can we puhleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeze continue this?! I even reviewed! **

**Here. I'll give you a proper review for it even! **

**Omg that Kit person totally kept him in character! And I love this mysterious girl he has to teach. Update soon so I'll know what happens next! I have a feeling that they're totally perfect for each other and will eventually end up in a relationship but update because the suspense is KILLING ME! ;)" **

You WOULD review your own story, wouldn't you? Yes, we can continue for now. I won't lie, your review made me laugh, so I couldn't help but at least post a second chapter. You're too silly. I'm glad we met on Omegle and wrote this together! You goober.


	3. Learning the Basics

Kit: YES! We got some reviews, so Peggi said we can post chapter 3!

Peggi: Yeah, this chapter is where things start to pick up a tiny bit!

Severus: In other words, I start to suffer, because I have to put up with that pain in the-

Kit: Don't you insult her character! Now, where did that disclaimer go? Oh yes, here it is!

Disclaimer: Kit and Peggi do not own Harry Potter. They do not own any of the books or ingredients listed in this chapter, and they don't even own the makings to a sandwich.

* * *

Severus mostly pushed his food around on his plate and picked his sandwich apart. He had a slight pang of guilt for not completing a task that Dumbledore had given him, and even if he didn't want to admit it, he hadn't treated the student he was supposed to work with as well as he could've. _Should've_. It didn't matter now, and he didn't exactly regret it, but things could've gone a lot better than they did. More smoothly. He would've given more thought to the matter but he heard footfalls entering the Great Hall. He looked up to see Sephy walking in, chatting with Dumbledore. The pair walked up to the table where Severus was sitting, and he prepared for the lecture.

"Ah, Severus!" the older man greeted, "glad we could catch you. C'mon my dear, have a seat! It isn't every day I invite students to sit up here at this table!"

"Thanks Dumbledore, that's super nice of you!" she seemed cheerful as ever.

Confused look on his face, Severus just sat there quietly, waiting to see what was going to take place. As they sat down they began picking things out of the dishes in front of them and putting it on their plates.

"Not hungry today, Severus?" Dumbledore noticed the untouched food.

"Not particularly," he replied, feeling a bit unsure of the situation.

"That's too bad!" he began, "it all looks quite tasty today! So, Sephy has been telling me about your lessons."

His already pale face lost some color as he realized he was probably about to be in some sort of trouble with the other man, since he'd made a point to invite Sephy to sit with them. Slight look of horror in his eyes, he looked past the man who was sitting between them to Sephy, who was giving him what was probably the most serious look she'd ever given him, and holding her index finger to her lips, telling him not to say anything. Severus looked back to Dumbledore and just nodded, as if to acknowledge him without actually responding.

"Dragons, I believe?" he then looked back to Sephy.

"Yeah!" she smiled, "they're actually pretty interesting. I had to do an assignment on one of them, all kinds of research. But I think I now know everything there is to know about them! I also know a lot about basic potions now, from all of the reading he's had me do in the last couple of days!"

"Well that's fantastic!" he then turned his attention back to Severus, "though I am sure she could also learn a great deal more by doing some hands-on work, don't you think?"

Severus, still half-confused, cleared his throat. "Yes, I suppose so."

Sephy must've caught on to the fact that he was uncomfortable saying anything, unsure of what she'd said about him so far, so she spoke for him, "I think he said tomorrow, was it? We would begin tomorrow, just with some of the basics, not much to really tell me as far as technique. And then maybe if I do well enough on my own with the simple and safe ones, maybe work together on some of the more difficult ones. Right, Professor?"

As soon as it was all eyes on Severus, she smirked at him, feeling like she'd won, "we'll see," he still managed to sound annoyed, though he was more relieved than anything else that she hadn't managed to get him fired. Yet.

The rest of the conversation was mostly Dumbledore telling Sephy stories Severus had already heard, about his own misadventures as a student and how much she would love attending the school. She listened, very entertained, and every time the man would turn to face Severus she would shoot a look at him, clearly feeling somewhat triumphant. He would glare daggers at her when the attention was turned back to her. Dumbledore was the first to excuse himself from the table to return to his study, leaving the two to their silence. Until he closed the doors behind him, that is.

"You!" there went that anger again.

"_Me_?" she asked innocently.

"Yes you! Do you have any idea how worried I was that you were running up to him, more of your lies about dead parents and probably about me striking you or hexing you or Merlin only knows what?!"

"Look, I just wanted to bring you down a notch! Since I've been here I've tried super hard to make this as easy for you as it possibly could be given the circumstances. I don't exactly want to spend my summer inside a castle with no mode of transportation out of here, in some foreign country not to mention foreign Wizarding reality. I'd love more than anything to be at home in my room reading a good book and not having to deal with anyone or anything, or alone at the beach watching the waves crash. Instead, I'm here trying to catch up on everything so that I can be used to help some kid I've never even heard of fight some war I'm not a part of, not even knowing why_ I'm_ the one who has to do it when I clearly am no where near as experienced as some of the other students here, and have no real importance at all to this world!"

And that was when reality came crashing down on Severus Snape. He hadn't really considered that he wasn't the only one suffering because of this arrangement, and she was right. She had offered to try and find a solution that would make him happy, when he hadn't thought of one that would make him happy and yet still benefit her as well.

"I suppose I could _try_ to work a little harder at trying to teach you. Perhaps I could show you a few techniques for potions if you'd like. But I am still not babysitting you this summer!"

She laughed a little and rolled her eyes, "I'm definitely not expecting you to babysit me. You'd probably forget about me again and fall asleep and I'd get into God only _knows_ what sort of trouble!" Her comment almost made him want to smile. Almost. But not quite.

"Well good then, because honestly my whole year's salary wouldn't be worth the trouble of keeping up with you. You have quite the mouth on you. And quite the temper."

She smiled back at him almost evilly, "you have _no_ idea!"

Certainly not what he wanted to hear, "well if you've had enough of this idle chit-chat, perhaps we can get to my teaching you some things about potions, so that you can leave me alone for the rest of the day."

"Sounds good to me!"

He led her back down into the dungeons, into the potions classroom and instructed her to grab the basic supplies. He didn't explain what they were, watching to see if she had actually done the reading like she boasted, or if it was just another one of her strange ploys. To his surprise, she first grabbed one of the pewter cauldrons that were lined up on one of the shelves. Next she grabbed a few crystal phials, a knife, her mortar and pestle and her scales for weighing. She then pulled out her wand and arranged them, quite professionally on the table in front of him.

"Very good," he couldn't hide the surprise in his voice. She just gave him a half smile and waited to hear what he would tell her to do next. "Right, then we will begin with something fairly simple. How about a standard Sleeping Draught? Do you recall reading about them?"

She nodded, "yeah, it's supposed to pretty much knock someone out for a while, but wears off with no real side effects other than feeling extremely rested. I actually wrote it down," she reached for her bag and shuffled through it for a few moments before pulling out a piece of parchment she'd written on.

Severus looked it over and saw that it had all been written in correctly, "well then, begin. If I notice you getting ready to blow us both up, I'll let you know."

He pulled up a chair and sat on one side of the table while she sat on the other, and watched as she began carefully following the instructions she had written down. She had done just fine up until it came time to light her burner and begin the heating process. She kept trying to light the burner but couldn't seem to get it started.

"You get through the tricky parts of the process just fine and choke up on the easy part?" Severus jabbed at her, in a joking manner despite it not quite sounding that way.

"It's just with you watching me. When I'm mixing and adding things and crushing them up I'm fine but when I can see you just staring at me it kinda makes me nervous!" she looked up at him, her cheeks a little red, feeling silly for not being able to do something that simple when she was trying _so_ hard to prove she wasn't a waste of his time.

"Fine, I'll just look over there at that wall. It's about as interesting as watching you put together this draught."

The second he looked away she managed to get her small flame going, "much better. And now you know how I felt yesterday staring at that book!"

He returned to watching her and then realized she was on the last part before the waiting process, "well then, now you wait just over an hour to let that brew. In the mean time, perhaps I should show you a little bit more about using your wand. I saw you waving that thing around a bit like it was some sort of stick."

"Yeah," she sighed, "I guess I do kinda need to know how to use this thing if I'm supposed to be a witch, I met a ghost in the library earlier, Professor Binns, when I was holding it out because he scared me, I think I was holding it from the wrong end. Good thing I didn't really have to use it. Then I'd be another Hogwarts ghost. And probably haunt you for not teaching me."

"I shudder at the thought," he gave her a look to let her know he was joking, but kept his trademark angry look on while doing so. "Let's go across the hall, into the room I found you in. Which, by the way, is the Party Hall."

She laughed, "so apparently it _isn't_ a room for secret wild," her face dropped when she realized she probably shouldn't finish her sentence in the presence of a teacher, but when she saw his questioning look thought of something fast, "student punishments."

He was a bit suspicious by her answer, but let it pass, "I suppose it probably could be, but no, it's not. Today, it will be used for you to practice using your wand."

He led her into the room and pulled his own wand out, and she did the same, as he used some wordless magic to light the torches, "one of the first things you would learn as a first-year student is the basic wrist-movement we like to call the 'swish and flick'. It's most effective in directing your spell at an object. You'll want to do this."

He showed her the movements she would want to follow, and then watched her try.

"Okay, so I do swish," she did the twist of her wrist, "and flick" which she was a little bit off on.

"Try again, focusing a bit more on the 'flick'."

She tried again, working a lot harder on perfecting the second movement, to direct the spell. She tried it a third time, feeling she had probably gotten it right, but just wanted to be sure.

"Very good. Now, we should start with something very basic. One of the first things you would learn once you've mastered your wand movements is the levitation charm. All you would say is 'Wingardium Leviosa', and direct it at the object you wish to levitate. Remember to pronounce it properly, as with any spell. Try tossing one of those_ things_ you insist on wearing on your arms onto the floor and levitating it."

She rolled her eyes, pulled one of her arm-warmers off and tossed it in front of her, "you know very well what they are, and they're fashionable, thanks! Wingardium Leviosa!"

She managed to levitate the warmer for a few seconds before she lost her train of thought by Severus' interruption, "fashionable? According to who?"

The arm warmer fell to the floor, "now look what you did, you made me lose my focus! I had it, too! And fashionable according to _me_, silly! Anyone else who doesn't like it can wear whatever they want, I just like to be different. I like it when people take one look at me and won't forget me."

"I'm sure your attitude has that covered for you."

She gave him a bit of a glare, but it was obvious that it was in a joking sort of manner, "now if you'll stop judging me, I have a charm to practice! Wingardium Leviosa!" she tried again, once more lifting the object off of the floor.

She held it a few inches above the floor for several seconds before deciding to try and move it around a bit. She moved her wand up a bit, and it moved up as well. Aimed the tip of her wand a bit to the left, and it moved in that direction. She did this for several more seconds, very proud of her work.

"This is the coolest spell _ever_! I never have to get up to get anything _again_! Magic is _awesome_!"

By the end of their 70 minute break from the potion, she had learned and mastered several basic commands, including the unlocking charm and her personal favorite, the Incendio spell, to create fire. She only needed to be told once, and would get it on her first or second try, and then go through all of them in different orders on command. Severus was actually impressed with her ability to pick up on them so quickly, but figured that she probably managed to do this the same way that he did when he was in school. When you focus on learning instead of the other things that most students tended to focus on, such as friends and fun, you manage to pick up on things a lot more quickly. The fact that this also happened to _be_ fun to her, probably helped. She was very proud of her work, and was ready to learn more, but it was time to check on the Sleeping Draught.

Back in the Potions room, the draught had changed to the desired consistency and was ready to begin adding the next ingredients. Without hesitation or needing to ask, Sephy continued where she'd left off, and in under 5 minutes, she had completed her task. She turned the burner off and removed the cauldron to cool. After it had cooled enough to be poured, she filled 2 crystal phials with the liquid, closed them, and then handed them over.

"Very good. To be perfectly honest with you, I'd imagined you would mess this up and I could use it as an excuse to force you into continuing to read and write essays for the remainder of the summer."

There was a hint of anger and slight frustration present in her eyes, "so you basically hoped I'd screw up so you could do away with me again. Nice. Well sorry to disappoint you but I _told_ you, I can do more than you think! This is just basic Chemistry! No different than what I do at home for fun, except that I use chemicals instead of things like Flobberworm mucus! Plus, it's also sorta like baking or cooking, the concepts are all the same, it's just a matter of following a recipe and being able to remember it and perfect it."

"Well, as it is, you did very well, so I think we can do this again. You still have other things to learn too, you know. It isn't all about potions and incantations. The rest of the day is yours to do as you please."

There was disappointment on her face, but she gave a half smile and took her cauldron to dispose of what was left inside of it. Severus left her and decided to make another attempt at reading the book he now figured he probably wouldn't be able to finish this summer. Once she had emptied and scrubbed the cauldron clean, she went back to her chambers to grab a book she'd gotten from the library, and decided to find a place outside to read it. It was a book on something she found confusing, so of course she _had_ to learn more. It was about Runes, which was basically learning an entirely new language.

She sat in a courtyard that was mainly enclosed but allowed sunlight to cast down on her while she read. It was quiet and comfortable, or as comfortable as sitting on a concrete banister could be. She was lost in the book for quite some time, and had no idea what the time actually was, when she noticed a tower with a clock on it, and saw she'd been there for hours. It was dinner time, and she realized she was hungry, so she made her way back to the Great Hall.

At the teachers' table, Dumbledore and Severus were already starting on their dinner.

"How are the lessons going?" Dumbledore asked, not looking up from his plate.

"Fine," Severus really had no interest in engaging much in conversation but knew he should at least give some updates, "she did well on her first potion today, though. It was a basic sleeping draft but she's a natural with Potions. I watched her and she looked like she'd been doing it for years."

"I thought you might say that," the man had a twinkle in his eye. "I am sorry that I somewhat deceived you, Severus. The biggest reason she had chosen to study with you was because when I let her glance into the Pensieve, she remarked on how beautiful it was watching you standing over the cauldron. She made mention that it looked like you were two entirely different people. A teacher, and a Potions Master. And as you can see, Potions is something she, too, appreciates in that same respect."

He nodded, and it was silent until Sephy walked in, at which point Dumbledore welcomed her.

"Ah, Sephy! Come join us! I'd love to hear all about your lessons today!"

The next couple of weeks went by pretty much the same. After breakfast, Severus would take her to the Potions classroom, read whatever essay she'd completed the evening before from her reading, and then he would watch her work on something new. She had breezed through all of the basic potions and was now working on some of the more advanced potions. They would find some time to learn new spells, which she was getting just as good at, and they were starting to work on some Defense Against the Dark Arts. She was a pro at stunning, disarming, and healing. She'd been writing essays involving her reading about Astronomy, History, and Transfiguration. She could turn basic objects into something she needed at the time and was catching up very quickly to where she needed to be.

Severus was impressed with how quickly she had picked up on her studies. She hadn't managed to annoy him since they began working together. She would do what she was asked and followed instructions without much of a fuss, and when they weren't working together, she left him to his peace. It was a nice arrangement, and worked well for the both of them.

Sephy had finished her lessons for the day and was in the clock tower courtyard when Severus walked up to her. She was reading a book on the Dark Arts and didn't even hear him approach her.

"You _can_ take a break from your studies on occasion, you know."

She tore herself from the page she was on and looked up at him, "oh, sorry, I didn't even hear you coming. Why, was there something else you wanted me to do? I can probably work on another potion or something."

He blinked at her, "no, that isn't what I meant. What I _mean_ is, you can on occasion do something _other_ than read and work on your assignments from me."

She laughed a little, "like what? Invite some friends over, have some tea and talk about our day, and then show them all of the cool things I've learned?"

That was all too familiar to him. She really didn't have anything other than reading to do, which was something he was used to doing himself, but not something he'd expect a 17 year old girl to be doing in the middle of summer. She really didn't have much of a choice. She didn't know anyone here, from what Dumbledore had mentioned she didn't really even have many friends to begin with, and the only people in the castle she could spend any time with aside from himself were Dumbledore and Mr. Filch. Or the school ghosts, of course, but he figured they wouldn't be great conversationalists.

"Right," he half-smiled, "well I'm sure the library has plenty of books that aren't on magical learning," he glanced down at the book she was reading and raised an eyebrow, "something other than Secrets of the Darkest Art."

She shrugged her shoulders, "none of the novels here are all that interesting to me, and besides. The Dark Arts are pretty cool to learn about. I found this in Dumbledore's office and he said it was okay if I wanted to read it, as long as I bring it back. There are a lot of really interesting facts in it, and I can probably learn more about Defense if I actually know what to defend myself _from_."

He exhaled, nodding in agreement. He didn't really know what else to say. Knowing he would regret it, he sat down next to her.

"I read that book as well when I was a student here."

"Really?" his attempt at casual conversation was slightly unnerving and she wasn't really sure what she was supposed to do. It was one thing when the three of them sat in the Great Hall over food and occasionally spoke, but this was new.

"Yes, I was very much interested in the Dark Arts. Can't say I made any friends because of it, though," that bitter truth created a pain in his throat.

"You? Not have friends? But you have such a sparkly, fun-loving personality!" she joked, actually getting what was almost a smile.

"I was a lot like you, I spent most of my time alone. I still do."

"I can tell. I never see you around the castle when we aren't practicing or eating."

"Some things don't change," he pointed out, "you on the other hand, will probably make a lot of new friends here at Hogwarts."

"I doubt it!" she laughed, "In case you didn't notice, I'm not the easiest to get along with."

"So true," he said under his breath.

"Are there any other students who go here who like the same things as me? I mean, if I _do_ make friends, I'm guessing it'll be because we like the same things," she ignored his remark.

"Well, some of the students in Slytherin House are interested in the Dark Arts, but I'm not sure they would be the type you would spend your time with."

"But you were in Slytherin," she pointed out, "and I like spending time with you. Can't be _that_ different, right?"

He opened his mouth to speak, but no words came. She _liked_ spending time with him? Well, probably because she had been shut in a quiet, boring castle doing nothing but studying and reading for the past couple of weeks, and there weren't exactly many others she _could_ spend time with. He abruptly stood and began to walk away without saying a thing.

"Did I say something?" she chased after him.

"You're fine, I just ran out of things to say."

"No, you had plenty you could've said. You could've talked about the weather, told me what school is like, mentioned a few names of people I could be friends with, told me about what it was like when you went here. You just don't like people to get too close to you."

"You haven't the slightest idea what I do or do not like!" he shot back at her.

"I know you like Potions and the Dark Arts. I know you are the head of Slytherin house and I'm pretty sure you don't own a single piece of clothing that isn't black."

"I'm astounded, you know so very much about me!" there couldn't possibly have been more sarcasm in his voice.

"Fine! I know that you like to have a drink before bed, you don't like grapes, and you eat around the edges of your sandwiches first. You hate talking to people so you pretend to read even if you're really not, and I know for a fact that you're right-handed!" she walked right past him, sure to bump into him on her way.

He stood there, once again angry with the idiot girl in his care, but confused at the same time. He knew she didn't have much of a father figure, as hers had run out, but if she was looking for a surrogate, she was certainly looking at the wrong person. It then occurred to him, she already knew a lot more about him than he knew about her. What _did_ he know? Other than the very obvious? He decided to mull it over with some dinner, and saw Dumbledore sitting at the table, but no Sephy.

"How are you on this fine day?" Dumbledore was far too happy for Severus' liking.

"Fine." There was a long silence, "Albus, tell me a little bit more about Sephy."

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Kit: Well? Did'ja like it? It's starting to pick up a bit now! Soon it'll be the start of character development! Oh, and thanks to those who reviewed!

violetmaid **Hey Sephy! Guess which really awesome admin is going to annoy you now...when are you updating this? When? When? When!? I need more! Why are you torturing me!?**  
**BK(the awesome) I love your story by the way...**

****Glad you like our story so far! Sorry for the torture, but we promise to update weekly as long as the reviews keep coming in! Hehe, your review made us both smile! We totally appreciated it! Yay!

FreeSpiritSeeker **Enjoying this quite a bit so far, Sephy's kind of hilarious and I love that she's not afraid of Severus. I look forward to reading more of it. Well done!**

We're really happy that you like it so far! Sephy's character definitely isn't afraid to stand her ground, and doesn't allow herself to be bullied! Gotta love a strong female lead! Thank you for your review and we'll keep more coming as long as we keep getting reviews from you awesome people!


	4. A day at Hogsmead

Kit: We were a little late for out "weekly" update, sorry about that guys!

Peggi: We'll try to be better about that. We've both had a lot going on though, so...yeah.

Disclaimer: Kit and Peggi don't own anything, especially not the amazing series that is Harry Potter. In fact, Kit doesn't even own the laptop she wrote her parts of this on.

Peggi: One of our favorite reviewers gave us sandwich fixings though, so we now have sandwiches. Which are awesome. We love sandwiches (takes big bite out of sandwich and gets on with the story)

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"What would you like to know?" he asked, fully interested in the question.

"Anything. I just can't seem to understand her. The temper, for instance."

"Worse than yours?" he chuckled, the point very true, though.

"One moment she's agreeable and the next she's shoving her way past me. She goes above and beyond the raising of her voice, she's actually screamed at me in the past."

"Ah, yes well there is a lot to understand. A lot of it will unfold over time, but I can tell you this. Her father abandoned his family when she was young. She had a younger sister who was her responsibility for many years. Her mother worked, very hard, a muggle job of course. It kept her away for long hours at a time, and she and her sister were the best of friends."

Severus already didn't like where this story was going, "were? Was? She no longer has that sister?"

He looked to him, sadness in his eyes, "no, I'm afraid not. A few years back a fire broke out in the home they were living next to. Their house caught fire and their mother was at work, and it was late at night. She tried to get her sister outside to safety, but she broke free, running back inside. Apparently, she was going back in to retrieve the jacket the Sephy had bought for her, the first gift she was ever able to afford on her own. Her sister died in the flames, leaving Sephy alone. The family had moved around often and both girls home-schooled, so of course she had no one to share her feelings with."

"But her mother-"

"Her mother_ blamed_ her for her sister's death. She's lived the past 4 years with guilt, turning to books and desperately trying to make friends, but each time she would get to know someone, they would move again. It wasn't until most recently that she became so angry that she blew the power out to her entire street. She was then on our radar, and I was able to locate her and go to speak with her. I don't expect you to be her friend, but I should certainly hope that you would make an effort to get along with her. We _need_ her, Severus. She holds the key to Harry's survival in this war we are facing."

This only made him feel worse. She had been mostly alone, lost the only person she ever loved and was close to, her only friend, and now was being used for someone else's agenda without full knowledge of what it was all about. Far too familiar. And yet, despite her outbursts, which he now understood, she really wasn't that much of a challenge to get along with. He certainly wouldn't apologize to her, he felt he had no reason, but he would try to get along with her. If for no other reasons, because she could help Lily's son, and because she had much more in common than he realized.

"Is there anything else you would like to know?"

"Yes. One more thing. Would it be alright with you if I allowed her to leave school grounds? Just for a few hours. I think she would appreciate getting out of this castle, even if only for a little while."

Sephy didn't feel much like eating dinner that night. She hid away in her room, reading her book, angry. She knew that coming to the school wasn't supposed to fix her life, make her problems go away, or earn her some happiness. She just couldn't understand why someone would seemingly go out of their way to treat her poorly. She was certainly used to it, but the whole situation was so confusing. One minute it seemed like the professor wanted to open up, form some sort of relationship with her other than just being there to tell her what to mix, where to point her wand or what to read. She hadn't expected any sort of friendship when she first met him, but over the past couple of weeks she thought the'd almost gotten closer. They had a bit of a rapport, poking jabs at one another, almost enjoying spending time with another human being. Yet the moment they started to have a real conversation, he froze up.

She knew there had to be some reason, because no one could possibly be that damaged without a hurtful past. She of all people would know what it was like to suffer, and how that can affect someone. She went over the conversation in her head. What had she said or done wrong? Had her comment about enjoying being around him been what scared him away? Was he that afraid of letting anyone get too close? Had it been something earlier in the conversation? Or maybe he was only attempting to be nice because he was feeling sorry for her. Her thoughts kept bouncing around in her head, and she decided she would just take a bubble bath and then go to bed.

Severus was going over his plans in his head for the next morning. He would do his best to make an effort to be a bit nicer, he would try to hold a conversation with her and maybe even try to be more friendly. The thought of spending too much time chatting almost made him feel sick, but if anyone would understand what he felt, it would probably be her. He had a terrible childhood, had lost his best friend, not only lost her once but twice, and the only real comfort he had were books. The only difference was that while she had tried to seek friends and failed because of circumstances, he failed because no one would ever want to be around him. Not when there were people like James Potter around. And now, he was so broken who would even bother...except for this possibly half-insane brat, who had made a point to tell him that she actually _enjoyed_ being around him. That, he couldn't comprehend. He'd given her no reason to want to be anywhere near him. He hadn't made an effort to be kind, never given her a real compliment, never spent any non-educational time with her, and when he did it was all school.

Both parties baffled, they went to sleep without answers.

The following day, Severus didn't see Sephy at breakfast. He was a bit concerned, as she usually was there before he was, halfway done with her food. He ate quickly and went to check and see if she might be in the Potions classroom. Sure enough, she was there, rinsing out a cauldron.

"Sephy?" he announced that he was there, so as not to startle her.

"Oh, hi Professor. I was just cleaning up after myself. I couldn't sleep, so I thought I'd just get a few things done. I left a few phials on your desk. I can tell you which ones I made in a sec."

He walked up to his desk and saw 6 phials, filled with 3 different potions. One he recognized immediately, "Hiccoughing Solution?" he set those two phials aside.

"Yep!" she figured he'd recognize it right away, as it was a fairly easy potion to make.

"Is this Wolfsbane Potion?" he was beyond impressed, as this was a very advanced potion for a student who had only been there for two weeks.

"You're good at this, I'm impressed. I didn't know you knew them all by appearance."

"I could surprise you with just how much I know," he rolled his eyes at the comment and looked at the last two phials. They were filled with white liquid, but he couldn't quite identify what was inside of them, as there were many different potions it could've been. "And these?" he held them up.

She glanced over, "oh that? Those are for you. I thought since you seem to be so aggravated with me, maybe they could help. They're filled with Draught of Peace. It's supposed to help with anxiety and agitation."

"You should be focusing more on learning what you will be starting up with, you won't even be doing this until fifth year! You're getting far too ahead of yourself," he caught himself for chastising her a second too late.

"A simple 'thanks Sephy, you're the best' would've been just fine," she didn't seem to miss a beat and didn't seem at all upset.

"Thank you," he replied, putting both phials in his pocket, thinking maybe he really _could_ use them after all.

Sephy spun around to face him, a confused and concerned look on her face and raised an eyebrow, "are you ok? I mean, I'm glad you're appreciative but I was sorta expecting you to yell at me for being in here half of the night, or tell me I'm never allowed in here without your permission or give me some weird detention or-"

"Be quiet! You talk far too much, you know that?" he took a deep breath, thinking he was definitely going to be regretting this and hoped he had a potion to relieve a headache for later. "Listen, we are going outside of the castle today. I really do appreciate you spending time trying to do something nice for me, whether I needed it or not, and you are welcome to use this room whenever you would like, so long as you don't break anything or blow the place up. Have you eaten?"

She looked down at her feet, "no, I um, I actually didn't because I, um-"

"Well? Yes or no?"

"No, I sorta took this Awakening Potion when I couldn't sleep and I was down here, well I got sleepy and didn't want to fall asleep during my study time so I made one real quick and I couldn't find anything in the book about whether I could still eat if it's in my system," she cringed, prepared for him to yell at her again.

"Quit being so nervous, you st-_ silly_ girl, you're perfectly fine to eat. Go grab something from the Great Hall, we can practice some things while we are on our way."

"Okay, sounds good!" they began to walk out together, "and I _know_ you were about to call me stupid again."

"Haven't the slightest idea what you're talking about."

"I bet," she rolled her eyes.

The entire way to their destination into town, neither really spoke. Sephy enjoyed the carriage ride and enjoyed the scenery, while Severus observed her. It had been a _very_ long time since he had seen anyone so purely fascinated by any and everything surrounding them. The last time he saw this look on someone's face, he was still friends with Lily. Before James Potter had corrupted her and turned her into someone he hardly knew. Lily used to love their trips outside of the castle and appreciated every second of it, even the ride to their destination. Severus didn't realize he was lost in thought until he made eye contact with Sephy and realized he'd been staring at her. He quickly looked away, which got a little laugh from the girl across from him.

"So, where are we going, anyway?"

"It's called Hogsmeade," he replied without looking back up.

"Hogsmeade," she repeated, "and what's there? I brought my bag with something to take notes, is this like an educational field trip where I have to take notes on certain things? Or will you just give me a list of questions about the place to answer?"

He looked up to her this time, "no, Hogsmeade is a village and you aren't going there to learn, you're going there to have fun. Get out of the castle for a day. I had some lessons planned for you but since you've already been in the potions room and we practiced some of your spells, you're free to spend the rest of the day here."

"Oh," she was a bit confused but very excited to be doing something other than work for once.

"The Headmaster has provided you with compensation for your summer as well as for studying at Hogwarts, as this normally wouldn't have been your school and you are here to assist us. When we get there I'll give you what I brought of it, and you can spend it as you please."

She nodded and went back to watching the scenery they passed for the next several minutes. It wasn't too long until they reached the village. She stared in wide-eyed amazement at the beautiful place. Severus pulled something out of his pocket and handed it to Sephy. She held her hand out and he dropped a small drawstring bag into her hand, the sound of coins colliding inside as it fell into her palm.

"Thanks, so where to first?" she asked, still amazed at the place in front of her.

"_You_ can go wherever you'd like. You can meet me at noon at the Three Broomsticks Inn."

He walked off and she stared down at her drawstring bag, and then looked back up to see him enter a building on the left. She was a bit sad that he didn't actually intend to spend any time with her, but then she giggled to herself, realizing who it was that she was referring to in the first place.

She walked down the sidewalk, looking to the left and then the right as she passed each shop. There was so much to see there! She found a shop called Honeydukes and saw that it was filled to the brim with candy, so she decided to step inside. This was going to be her favorite day _ever_!

Inside of Tomes and Scrolls, Severus was glancing through the books that were available there. There were a few he had never seen before and many he already owned. He was looking for some books specifically for Potions making, as well as some rare Defense Against the Dark Arts books. He found one he was interested in and carefully opened it, sure not to open to the wrong page, as some of the Dark Arts books tended to have their own defense system! Sitting down in one of the comfortable chairs the store had available to read through books you may want to buy, he began flipping through it, seeing what all it had to offer. There was a lot of information on some of the more painful and unpleasant hexes, as well as several curses listed in detail.

He spent the next few hours scanning several books before deciding on which ones he wanted for himself, and after they were paid for, he headed to Dogweed and Deathcap to check into their stock of certain herbs he couldn't elsewhere find. He happened to see Sephy a bit farther down staring in through the window of Magical Menagerie, and walked into the shop he was headed towards.

Inside there were shelves filled from side to side, top to bottom with just about any ingredient derived from a plant or flower that one could possibly think of for potion making. He searched for a few specifics for his personal stores, and then several more to be used over the summer by Sephy, for things she would be making for her learning. He also took note of a few live plants he would want delivered to the castle, and placed two fruits into a bag for later. He browsed for a while, and then saw that it was nearing noon, so he made his purchases and headed to the Three Broomsticks.

Sephy hadn't arrived yet by the time he got there, so he took a seat and waited for her to arrive. Madam Rosmerta approached him, a smile on her face.

"Well then, if it isn't Severus Snape! Been a long time since I seen you in here! What can I get for ya?"

"Firewhiskey."

"Right, one Firewhiskey comin' right up!"

Just as she walked away to get his drink, Sephy walked in, several bags in hand and a smile on her face. Madam Rosmerta passed her on her way back to the bar and greeted her.

"Hello there dear, I will be right with you!"

"Thanks!" Sephy walked past her and sat down across the table from Severus.

"Have fun shopping?" he asked, noting her many bags.

"I did! I got a lot of really neat things, including some really cool books on Potions and some really dangerous sounding Magical Creatures. I kinda wanted this one broom, but it was pretty pricey and I don't even know how to fly yet, so I thought it would be safer to use the school ones until I really know how, so I don't like mess it up or something like that. Oh, I did buy a lot of candy from Honeydukes as well! You're welcome to have any of it if you'd like!"

Madam Rosmerta interrupted the conversation, carrying a mug filled with firewhiskey to the table. She seemed surprised to see someone else sitting at the table with Severus.

"Well then, isn't this nice!" she remarked, "so then, what can I get for your lovely date?"

Both of them looked horrified from the statement, Sephy felt her face turn a little red, "no ma'am, well yes I mean I'll order something but I'm his student not his date!"

"Oh, how embarrassing! I'm sorry, I just assumed because you looked like you might've graduated, and it is the summer, I assumed all students would be home. I'm very sorry. What can I get you, dear?"

"It's ok, no harm done. Um, well, I don't exactly know what you have..."

Severus answered for her, "a Butterbeer will be fine for her."

Sephy looked up, seeing the faintest hint of pink still on Severus' cheeks. Madam Rosmerta nodded and went back to the bar, coming back with a tankard of a butterscotch colored liquid with foam on the top. She sat it down in front of Sephy and returned to what she was doing prior to their arrival. Sephy eyed the beverage in front of her carefully, never having seen anything like it before. It looked like it might be similar to the pumpkin juice she had been drinking at the school, but the color was a bit darker. She picked it up and took a sip.

"Wow, not bad at all!" she actually liked it, wiping the foam off of her upper lip. "So, what are you drinking then?"

"It's called Firewhiskey," he replied, taking a swig of his own drink.

"Drinking away the pain of having to spend time with me?" she laughed.

He shrugged his shoulders jokingly and they sat in silence for a bit, until something that was bothering him had to come out.

"Grapes?" he asked, out of absolutely nowhere.

"Huh?"

"Grapes. You know I don't like grapes, how could you possibly have known something like that?"

"Oh. It was one day at lunch. There was a fruit salad, and you ate everything else but picked out the grapes. I knew you were right-handed because when you hold your wand or stir something, it's always with the right hand. And the sandwiches, same with the grapes. Just something I noticed you do a lot."

He was impressed, "you pay a lot of attention to detail. That'll help you in your classes."

"Long as they aren't boring! I only pay attention to thinks that are interesting. Like Potions. And Magical Creatures. And you."

He was taken back by the last comment, "me, what do you find so interesting about me?"

"You're just one of life's great mysteries! You're always so secretive, and you also seem to think so little of yourself and I just can't figure out why. I love trying to figure things out. How they work and why they work the way they do. You're my biggest challenge yet!"

He stared blankly at her, "have you ever considered that I am secretive because I don't _want_ anybody to figure me out? Perhaps I simply like my privacy?"

"No, that's definitely not it at all. I think you just don't want anybody to be your friend," she raised her eyebrows in a 'you know that I am right' fashion, sipping on her Butterbeer some more.

Severus took another rather large swig of the Firewhiskey and remembered the potions she'd given him, somewhat wishing maybe he'd used one. Conversation in general wasn't something he enjoyed, and while he managed just fine among company he was more familiar with, this was quite uncomfortable for him.

"And how about you?" he asked, "wasn't it you who said she didn't need babysitters or friendship?"

She shrugged a shoulder and bit her lower lip, "well, I don't _need_ either, but it seems like we could both use someone to talk to. I know that I enjoy spending time with you, and I think that even though you're totally never going to admit it, I think you like spending time with me. Even though it makes you feel really weird and awkward and uncomfortable. I think you're just as lonely as I am."

She _did_ know more about him than most others, many of whom had spent much more time around him. Half of the other professors probably hadn't picked up on it, and she was right. He'd never admit to it, but spending time with her wasn't a problem at all, and he did somewhat enjoy it. It wasn't being around her he didn't enjoy, it was trying to think of something to say, trying to think of how to reply, trying to-

She grabbed the mug that was sitting in front of him and looked down into it, swirling it around in a circle at the bottom of the mug. He'd almost finished it off. She glanced back up at him, he had an expression on his face that made her giggle, half curious about what she'd do next and a bit confused.

"What _is_ this stuff?" she asked, sniffing it and crinkling her nose at it.

"Like I said, it's Firewhiskey. It's a really strong-"

Before he could finish his sentence, she lifted the mug and took the final swig, almost a mouthful and swallowed, making a somewhat disgusted face. His eyes widened at the sequence of events and he had no idea what to say.

"Bleh!" her nose crinkled more, "that stuff burns!"

"Well yes! Hence the first part of the word! Are you insane?" he asked, still a bit shocked by what she had just done.

"Uh, yeah. Hadn't you noticed that yet?" she laughed again. "I'm legal in your world now, am I allowed to have those?"

He was at a slight loss for words, more-so than usual, "I, uh, Sephy, it's _noon_!"

"Yeah, _you_ ordered it, not _me_. Got a problem with drinking before noon, you talk that out with _yourself_."

She had a point, "I honestly don't think that you could be served something with this high alcoholic content in a place like-"

"Excuse me!" Sephy called out to Madam Rosmerta, who was behind the bar, cleaning some mugs and glasses, who rushed up to them to see what they needed.

"Yes dear?"

"May we please get two more of those Firewhiskeys?"

"Of course, coming right up!"

"What do you think you're doing?!" Severus tried to keep his voice down as much as possible, while still making his point.

"It's called 'fun', have you ever tried it before? It's exhilarating! I think you'll enjoy it!" she smiled at him.

Yes, this girl was definitely insane.

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Kit: We're about to get into some friendshippy feels now! But time to respond to the reviews!

ShutInBookWorm **Brillint I love Sephy's character scholarly and full of atitude. I am really enjoying this story annd can't wait for more.**

We're glad you like the character, and we're happy to hear that you like the story so far! We definitely have had a lot of fun writing it!

violetmaid **A week? But but that's *counts on fingers* 7 days away!? I cant wait that long! You can't not have sandwich fixings *hands over sandwich stuff* Now make sandwiches and keep writing. :) Awesome chapter as per usual. :)**

We enjoyed our sandwiches :3 they were quite tasty! And we'll try to get the next one out in less than a week, just for you!


	5. Time to Let Loose

Kit: Guess what guys? We only got 1 review, so that means it took longer to post the next chapter! Shame on you readers...don't forget to review, or we just won't post the rest of our story!

Peggi: Because we're greedy little jerks like that!

Disclaimer: Kit and Peggi don't own Harry Potter, anything related to the Wizarding World, or anything but some merchandise they spent far too much money on. All they own is this RP/fanfiction.

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Madam Rosmerta came back with two Firewhiskeys and a big smile, and left the two to their drinks. Severus waited to see what Sephy would do, and without hesitation, she took another big gulp of her own drink.

"Bleh!" she shook her head, feeling the standard burn as the liquid went down.

He lifted his drink to take a sip, but she held up her hand to stop him.

"How about we make a deal."

He eyed her suspiciously, not liking where this was heading, "go on..."

"You've had the one so far, right? Just the one you had when I first got here?"

"Yes..."

"We will drink these together. While we drink, we talk. You can ask me anything, I can ask you anything. We have to agree to answer honestly, so long as none of the questions get too terribly personal."

"Guess I'd better hurry up and finish this off," he lifted the mug again.

"No, I'm not done," she pulled the mug down by the bottom until it was nearly at the table.

He sighed, "go on..."

"After we are done with these, we will keep ordering more, until I can only drink one more. At that point, I'll get my final mug, drink it in silence, and then we can go."

He took a deep breath. On the _one_ hand, it sounded like a fair deal, aside from the part where he would be getting his 17 year old student who was left in his care by the _Headmaster_ of Hogwarts drunk. But this was her idea, and it almost sounded like a fun idea.

"I suppose," he agreed, sounding a bit unsure.

"Oh, there's more. If you give up before I do, we make this trip again. All day, we have to talk, and if you'd like you can drink one of those potions for it, but you _have_ to spend the entire day hanging out with me."

"No! Absolutely not!"

She smirked at him, "scared that a tiny girl who's never had Firewhiskey before in her life can out-drink you, Professor?"

"Fine. It's a deal."

She made him shake on it, not sure if it carried as much significance in the Wizarding World or not as it did in the Muggle world, but it at least sealed the deal. There was no way that a girl her height and weight could hold her alcohol better than he could. She had said it herself, he liked a drink before bed, and he'd been drinking since long before he was legally allowed to. He'd had a sad childhood, bitter teenage years, and she was only...he suddenly realized there could be a flaw in his thought process before he made the deal.

The next chug she took, she didn't shake her head, cringe, or make the slightest sound, she just stared at him with an even, intent look. He had his work cut out for him.

"So, do you want to start, or should I?" she asked.

"I'll start. How long have you really been drinking, and was that disgusted look you had the first couple of times just an act?"

She let out a loud laugh, covering her mouth because she realized she'd been a bit loud, "that's _two_ questions! But since I am feeling generous, I will answer them both, but you only get one at a time. Not long, only a couple of years. In the Muggle world, not sure if you know, but it's really not hard to get your hands on it. I'll admit, that first taste took me by surprise, but by the time I saw that look on your face, I figured I could get something out of this somehow. So yes, the second time was an act. Now you. Why does talking to people make you so uncomfortable?"

He grumbled and took a big gulp of his drink and paused for a few seconds, "growing up, I was an only child. I never really had anyone to talk to, and as a student most of the other students just weren't all that interesting. And," he looked down at his drink "I didn't really have many friends. Any, actually. Well, not the right kind, and the one friend I did have, well, we didn't see eye to eye on a lot of things. Now you."

He looked up, pursed his lips in thought, and then had his question, "you mentioned that you like a challenge and that's why you're so interested in trying to get to know me. What's your real reason?"

She smiled warmly after finishing her sip, "that's a big reason right there. I also feel like there's something inside of you that's hurt, damaged. I want to try and fix it, because I know how it feels to be damaged. I hate seeing people hurt."

"Damaged, try broken," he said dryly.

"You're not broken, you're just not used to having someone there to listen to you and to care for you. Look at me! I'm sure Dumbledore has told you all about my terrible childhood trauma, about my sister. You'd think that coming here would be able to help solve my issues, but it isn't for me. I'm not here so that a sad young woman can find a better life. I'm here because your world, _our_ world, needs me for something. I have something that Dumbledore and the people fighting this battle need, so here comes little miss already messed up to the rescue, to fix the problems of the Wizarding World, to assist some kid I've never heard of before. I'm being _used_, Professor, and I know it. My instinct is to curl up, blame _both_ worlds for my misfortunes, and hate everybody and everything in them. I think you feel the same way a lot of the time. I think you're used to being part of someone's plan, no matter who that may be, and I know that feeling."

She took another, this time _very_ large gulp of her Firewhiskey, "I think that everyone who has come into your life has done the same to you, in one way or another. That even when someone did care about you, they still expected something for you, and if they didn't they left you somehow. Just like me. And you're not broken. There's still hope yet to save you. And do you want to know the real, _full_ reason I chose _you_ above anyone else?"

"Yes..."

"Well that can be your next question then! My turn," she smiled gleefully, turning from the serious, saddened girl back into her typical upbeat self. "Okay, so, now that you have that information, and think carefully and be truthful, would it really be so bad to let someone care about you and maybe even be your friend?"

He rolled his eyes and really did think about the question. She had given him a lot to consider, and the idea of having a friend who understood why he was the way he was and could relate didn't sound too awful. In all fairness, her personality sometimes bothered him, but mostly because he wasn't used to someone acting this way. The students he taught during the school year all had their happy-go-lucky attitudes, but also acted very different when he was at the front of the classroom. It was out of fear, mostly, and a bit of respect by some, but with Sephy, she had no fear of him and despite her attitude, he knew she had respect for him.

She also wanted to help him, and even he had to admit that he needed as much help as he could get. The only true friend he had was taken from him, by a combination of the sorting of the hat, the friends she would keep aside from him, and his love for things she didn't appreciate. And then there was another good point. Sephy, while friendly and kind, also had a clear appreciation for the Dark Arts, and not just for defense, and also was very clever at his own gift of potion making.

"Truthfully," he began, making eye contact with her "I'm not sure I would know _how_ to be your friend. I suppose I'm friends with Albus, well, Dumbledore as you know him, but that was built over years of trust. It's almost more of an _arrangement_, but we do care for one another."

He was slightly confused now about what they actually were, and she smiled half-heartedly, "and you're afraid he's using you too."

He nodded, "but I'm not sure I even _could_ be your friend. I haven't had one in so long."

She smiled warmly and placed her hand over his, and he almost pulled away out of shock, "you don't have to be. I just want to know if it's okay for _me_ to be _your_ friend."

"There's a difference?" now he was _very_ confused, as this was an incredibly new concept all together.

She laughed again, pulling her hand away and taking another drink, "of course there is silly! I'm not asking you to go out of your way or do anything different, I just wanna let you know that I'm here if you need someone to talk to and you shouldn't be afraid to let me know if there's something on your mind."

"Then what would you get out of it?"

"I'd feel good that I helped someone who needed me. And I'd know that in time I could teach you how to be my friend too. I think you know how, and I think you can. You're doing it right now, even if I'm forcing you to be a friend!" she laughed.

He shrugged, she was right. Spending time together was what friends did, though he didn't recall hearing of friends having a competition to see who can get drunk the fastest in an attempt to either force the other into another outing or end the conversation all together.

"Well then," he gave an attempt at a smile, "you know the question. What was the full reason you wanted to learn by me."

She nearly spat the Firewhiskey out of her mouth and started coughing, turning around to make sure she hadn't drawn attention from Madam Rosmerta, who was now in the backroom and nowhere to be seen. She turned back to face him and he had his chin resting on his hands, waiting for his answer.

"I thought you'd forget after all of that," she laughed.

He shook his head and waited for her reply, interested in one small change to her features. He couldn't tell if it was the fact that she had now consumed nearly 3/4 of her drink or not, but she had the faintest hint of pink on her cheeks. This peaked his interest and he really couldn't wait for the answer now.

She groaned a bit, "okay, okay. This was _my _game and I'm the idiot who mentioned the question in the first place. Well, basically what I said was all true, I was really interested in your two areas of expertise, and watching you brew the potions and the care you took to it, seeing almost two people. I can't describe it, but I just knew. You seemed like the best match for me. I mean there was Professor Sprout, but she mostly works with plants, Professor Vector but I was worried he'd talk about numbers too much which is so not my thing...then there was this guy Hagrid, who I hear lives on the grounds but I have yet to meet, though he did look pretty fun, and some guy named Professor Lupin, not bad but just didn't look as interesting. So of course you were the obvious choice."

He eyed her suspiciously again, and raised his eyebrows, letting her know that he knew she wasn't keeping her end of their arrangement. She sighed and grabbed her mug with both hands, looking down at the table and then met her eyes with his.

She then said under her breath, barely loud enough for him to hear, "plus you were the only attractive teacher at this school and I couldn't stand the thought of having to stare at the same person all summer long if I didn't find them attractive."

She took a final huge gulp of her Firewhiskey, making every attempt to hide her face with her mug that she could. When she finally lowered it, she saw an expression on his face that she couldn't even place a thought or emotion to. She stared at him for several painfully long seconds, and he tried to just comprehend what she'd said. He had expected something along the lines of him reminding her of someone she knew, and maybe hated, back home, she somehow saw him as a father figure, something embarrassing but he never saw that answer coming. It had come like an unexpected owl delivery might, a delivery that fell from nowhere and had landed on his head. He had no words, his mind couldn't wrap around it.

"Well," she began a bit uncomfortably, "I mean, say _something_. I didn't expect words of happiness and the heavens to open up with choirs of song, but say _something_ for goodness sake!" as if it wouldn't have been embarrassing enough to admit something like that to someone she shouldn't have that sort of thought about with them having a response. Silence usually wasn't a sign of 'good'.

"I, I just" he was stammering, still trying to find words, "I just don't understand."

She blinked a few times, "which part wasn't clear?"

"The part where someone, _anyone_, finds me attractive and I don't wake up in my chair with a drink still in my hand, alone in my chambers."

"Well, I do. It's no big deal, you just happen to have some really nice qualities."

"Such as?" he pried.

Her eyes widened, "you've already asked your question and I've finished my drink!"

He smiled slyly at her, "oh, but I thought you were convinced you could out-drink me. How about a refill?"

This game was getting pretty fun. He finished the last sip of Firewhiskey and another round was being brought to them. Sephy was able to ask her next question, but she was still really embarrassed from what he'd just asked her, and wasn't able to think of a good one.

"Okay this is a waste of a question, but you're not going to tell Dumbledore and make me start learning with somebody else are you? I mean I really do enjoy classes with you and not just because I think you're hot," she cringed at her poor choice of words and somewhat regretted this sort of discussion over alcohol, which sometimes loosened her up a bit _too_ much for her own liking, "I mean, well you know what I mean. But I really like what you're teaching me and I can really learn a lot from you and I'm having so much fun and I really did mean I want to be your friend and you really are a great teacher and oh God just please make me shut up now!"

He had a look of amusement on his face and a smile, a_ real_ smile, spreading across it. He'd forgotten how to smile this way, and it was probably the combination of the Firewhiskey and the compliments, but whatever it was, he was enjoying it. It was the first time he'd ever had real companionship since just before he'd begun attending Hogwarts, back when he and Lily were friends and shared their secrets and stories together. It was the first time he'd been fully open with someone and heard their own embarrassing truths. It was the first time in a long time, no actually the only time now that he thought about it, that someone had referred to him as 'hot'. He wondered if the alcohol was just causing her to say these things, and a twinge of pain at the thought hit his heart. What if she were only saying these things because she was drinking? What if tomorrow, or even tonight, after she'd fully sobered up, she remembered all of this and none of it had been true, and she went to Dumbledore and asked for him to find her a new teacher? At the start of their lessons together, or even before this day, he probably would've either gladly taken that deal or at least wouldn't have minded. But now that they were having this conversation, the thought of him not being able to teach her actually upset him. Or what if she chose to stay and it weren't all true, and it became awkward, and she resented him?

"Well?" she asked as their drinks arrived.

He hadn't realized that he hadn't answered her question yet, and he pushed the mental pain aside, "no, I'm not saying anything to Dumbledore. This whole conversation, this afternoon, it can stay between the two of us," he reassured.

She let out a sigh of relief, "that's good. I never thought I'd actually tell you all of this. Stupid game, I didn't think it would turn on me!"

He gave another smile, glad that it sounded like she really had meant what she said. It was his turn to ask a question now.

"Sephy, what exactly do you even find attractive about me?" initially, the question had been intended to be sly and probing, but with the anxiety he had felt moments before, it came out in a more depressed tone.

Realizing that he was more interested in the topic, Sephy relaxed a little bit more and smiled finally, "a lot of things! First off, you're a very snazzy dresser. Although I don't know how you get dressed in the morning, all the buttons," she motioned with her finger up and down, and he laughed a little bit, realizing they were an insane amount of buttons.

She laughed, took another sip, and continued, "I've always had a thing for long hair, especially _dark_ long hair. I love your dark expressive eyes, usually I can tell what sort of mood you're in just by looking at your eyes. I think it's cute how when you don't want to talk to anybody you pretend to read and kinda let your hair fall around your face so no one can see you, like if you can't see them you'll be invisible. Something I have a feeling you carried over since childhood?"

He nodded and laughed a little, realizing that it was something he'd done since his youth, and he actually had been doing it for so long that he didn't think twice about it. Suddenly, he was very self-conscious and without thinking about it he began to mat his hair down, because that had always been something that haunted him. No matter how many potions and shampoos he had tried, it always looked dirty and greasy, even when it wasn't. It clung together and he could never get it just right. He noticed Sephy giving him a very strange look.

"What exactly are you doing?" she took another sip of her drink.

"Nothing, you just...you mentioned my hair, I hate it. It never looks right," he matted it down a couple of times and suddenly _every_ feature he hated about himself began to bother him. He hadn't paid as much attention since his days as a student to those things, even though he often heard some of the comments students made, which were very similar to the ones they made when he was attending the school.

"What do you mean?" she asked him, seemingly genuinely unaware of the problem. "Mine's pretty messy too, the dark color helps a little but there are days a steam roller wouldn't flatten this rat's nest on my head!" she laughed at her own misfortune.

"It's not so much the style, it's just I hate that it looks so...matted and dirty all the time." He was honestly embarrassed to admit it, but he figured she noticed and was just being too polite to say anything.

"Doesn't look dirty to me," she shrugged her shoulders. "I don't see the problem."

"It looks like an oily mess!" he said with an exasperated tone. "You can't imagine the things people have said, my favorite, stuck with me since school, I've always been 'the greasy git'. You can't tell me you didn't notice."

She furrowed her eyebrows a bit, "uh no, one of the few friends I did have went to cosmetology school, you know, hairdressing in the Muggle world? Some people just more coarse hair. Plus you're probably over-washing it. If you wash it too much it can appear oily even if it isn't, but if anyone were to take a second to look at you, it looks just fine."

To prove her point she reached across the table and ran her fingers through it and shrugged with her left shoulder, "see, perfectly silky."

The contact was the first real contact he had ever really had like that. No one, especially not a woman, had ever even touched his hair. Not even...Lily. He couldn't help but almost crave it again, but he pushed the thought out of his mind. That would be inappropriate, and probably make her uncomfortable, attracted to him or not.

"Well what else do you think's wrong with you?" she asked, curious.

He took another gulp of the Firewhiskey, "well, there's my teeth. I have horrible teeth."

"Hah! Let me see, smile for me."

He hadn't smiled in so many years, and hadn't smiled to show his teeth off since he was _very_ young. That was always another source of being made fun of for him. He figured at this point, it couldn't possibly hurt, so he gave a really quick smile and then covered his mouth with his right hand.

"Oh that little gap? That's what you're so worried about?! It's adorable! Oh my gosh, _seriously_?! No, that can't be it, what else is wrong with them?"

"That's it!" he talked from behind his hand, "I hate it!"

"My poor, dear, mistaken man. Haven't you noticed _my_ teeth? Dude, I have a gap in mine _and_ I have a couple crooked because my mom couldn't afford to get them fixed. See?" she smiled for him and he noticed what she meant, but didn't see any real issue with them. "Ok, next up? What can I disprove for you now?"

"I guess the last thing left is this horrible thing on my face," no harm in holding back now.

"Well, it's not the eyes, we already went over how incredible those are, your chin is just fine, you have high cheekbones but that's a good trait, lovely smile that you don't show off often enough which is the biggest issue I see, and you have really nice lips to go with it, so what? Your nose or something?"

"Yes, wouldn't that be obvious?"

"I guess, but who cares? I mean honestly-"

"Don't you dare try to compare this time, yours is just fine," he warned.

She laughed again, loudly enough to have Madam Rosmerta look up from the bar and then she went back to reading, "yikes, I should be more quiet! No, I wasn't going to _compare_, I was just going to say, it looks just fine for the shape of your face. Little big, but so what? It makes you look more distinguished, and I like that too!"

The remainder of their time in the Three Broomsticks was spent asking questions and trading thoughts. By the end of that, they had both pretty much forgotten the original deal they'd made. They added one more Firewhiskey to their tab before deciding to call it quits, and leaving before they were asked to leave due to Sephy's constant exaggerated laughing.

Severus was feeling quite confident with himself and Sephy was so out of it she didn't really even remember where they really were. They walked around the village for a while longer, talking about all of the fun things she and her sister used to do and he mentioning a few times about the fun things he and an unnamed friend used to do. He talked about some of the people in school he hated and she expressed that she would love to find a way to time travel and punch them all in the face. It was honestly the most carefree he had been since he could possibly remember, and the fun they had been having would be something he knew he wouldn't forget even after they sobered up a bit. They were both feeling carefree, and he remembered something.

"Oh, I'm sure you're hungry, I know I am. This is called a Dirigible plum. Supposed to have an orange flavor to it," he said, handing her one out of one of the bags he was carrying, keeping the other to himself.

She looked at the strange, orange radish-looking fruit and they made their way back to the carriages. Suddenly, Sephy wrapped her arm around Severus', locking their arms together and slightly leaning into him.

"This was totally the best day I've had ever!" she exclaimed, taking a big bite out of the fruit. It really did taste like a strange cross between a plum and an orange.

"I feel the same," he took a bite out of his as well, and really liked the taste. He'd heard of them but never eaten one before.

He helped her into the carriage and sat next to her as they finished their last bites, arms locked again and she put her head on his shoulder in a dreamy daze, exhausted now that her potion from the morning had worn off and full of almost nothing but alcohol. He pulled her a tiny bit closer and hoping she wouldn't notice, rested his cheek on top of her head. He hadn't had that much Firewhiskey in a very long time, and he definitely could feel the effects. He noticed her hair smelled a lot like vanilla and roses, or maybe one or the other and her skin smelled like the second scent. Either way it was heavenly.

The carriage had just begun to move when suddenly he both felt something strange wash over him, almost like a sudden sobering up, and at first Severus had no idea what was happening. That comfortable, relaxed feeling slowly began slipping away and then he realized what had happened. Dirigible plums give you an elevated sense of awareness of your surroundings, they can allow you to see things you might not otherwise see, and also can help pull you out of certain states caused by potions or _alcohol_. They were literally sobering up.

His breathing stopped for a second, realizing that if he was feeling this affect, so was Sephy. He sat there in slight horror, not sure if he should move or just wait and see how she reacted. She hadn't taken the last, final mug of Firewhiskey, so he'd had one more than her, but he knew she _had_ to either be fully aware or close to it by now. He finally remembered he'd stopped breathing, and slowly inhaled, still not sure what to do.

"Um, Professor?" Sephy finally spoke.

"Yes?" he asked, nervously, and not sure how to explain everything.

"Um, this is fine and all, but...uh...do you think you could maybe just move your hand maybe?"

"Huh? Oh!" he jolted upright, not having realized that while his left arm was wrapped around hers, his right hand had, at some point, found itself resting on her right thigh. "I'm sorry! I have no idea what I was doing, that was completely inappropriate, I should never have been touching you like that, I didn't even realize I was. I never should've been leaning on you like that, it's no excuse but I was just so relaxed from the alcohol. I wasn't thinking!" he was embarrassed and felt like he'd just done, no _knew_ he had just done the most inappropriate thing he'd ever done in his life. If she hadn't planned a transfer to another professor by the time they left the pub, she certainly had now.

"No, that was fine, I was really comfortable, I just didn't know if you realized your hand was there, just a little too touchy feely if we're just friends is all."

She smiled at him with one of her calming, warm smiles, and this led to another bout of confusion for him.

"The plum, I wasn't thinking. It sobers you up or allows you to pay better focus to things, it just kicked in at a really awkward time. Again, I'm very sorry. I honestly didn't realize what I was doing until it took affect," he couldn't have been more apologetic.

"Sober? Oh. Ok, that's why I don't feel as light-headed. Yeah I noticed that right away, I thought it was supposed to prevent a hangover or something!" she laughed at her own mistake in not knowing what the plum was meant for.

"So then...you've been sober since..."

"Oh, a few seconds after I grabbed your arm on the way to the carriage, silly! Why? Didn't it start working for you right away?"

He had no idea, once again, what to say.

* * *

violetmaid **Sandwiches are nice, I want sandwiches now. Now go crack your heads together or whatever you do and write more awesome chapters like this one but not this one because you already wrote it and stuff. Have chocolate *Hands over chocolate*...**

Aww, well since you gave us what we needed to make them...we can make you a sandwich! And we'll share our chocolate too, since you're our favorite reviewer! (plus...can we just say...if it weren't for you, we wouldn't be continuing this!)


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